Despite the rain on Thursday evening, #HausofLiberate hosted an intriguing evening of performance art and surrealist film. Unfortunately, due to the weather, Liberate we not able to open up the garden of Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore’s house to their guests. However, Robert J Anderson did brave the raindrops to bring the audience a unique piece of genderqueer performance art celebrating Cahun and Moore.

Holding two wings on which were written “Roi” and “Reine” and dressed in a full length white gown, Anderson appeared to be hovering over the graves as a waif-like guardian angel. However, this angel was firmly earthbound, tied to the headstone of the two artists as if this was where her/his spiritual home was, defiantly resisting the pull of some abstract heaven. It was a moving and reflective piece that set the tone for the film that followed.

Sarah Pucill’s film, Magic Mirror, used the writing of Cahun in her work Aveux non avenus as its starting point. In a departure for Pucill, the film was scripted using Cahun’s words. Pucill then set images of her own and Cahun’s and reconstructions of Cahun’s famous photographs to the words. The effect was a dreamscape of domestic interiors, each twisted into a surreal kaleidoscope. The similarities between Cahun and Pucill’s imagery and concerns, in both their oeuvres, was never more stark.

The film was followed by an interesting and lively Q&A between the director and Liberate’s Vic Tanner Davy.